The United States is golden.

The United States captured the gold medal at the 2017 World Junior Championship on Thursday, coming away with a thrilling 5-4 victory in the shootout. Troy Terry notched the game-winning goal.

Terry was the lone shooter to score in the five-round shootout, as the United States won its first gold medal at the world juniors since 2013.

It was a devastating loss for Canada, who finished sixth place a year ago after winning gold in 2015. Canada has won gold just twice since 2009.

The Canadians got off to an early lead on Thursday, with defenseman Thomas Chabot opening the scoring 4:38 into the first period after he knocked the puck into a wide-open net behind sprawling American goalie Tyler Parsons.

The two sides traded chances in some exciting early minutes, with Canada tallying again at the 9:02 mark when Jeremy Lauzon fired a snap shot from the slot, marking his second tally of the tournament.

Canada carried a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. In the second period, American defenseman Charlie McAvoy quickly got his side on the board at the 3:04 mark, catching the Canadians on a bad line change and firing a shot from the slot that beat Canadian netminder Carter Hart on his glove side.

With the Canadians called for too many men midway through the second period, the Americans evened the score, as forward Kieffer Bellows deflected a point shot by Adam Fox. The score remained tied at two through two periods, with Canada carrying a 22-19 shot advantage.

Canada regained the lead 1:52 into the third period on a power-play marker by Nicolas Roy, who fired it top corner on the blocker side of Parsons. Mathieu Joseph then built on Canada's lead less than three minutes later, putting the Canadians ahead 4-2 when he dashed in on a breakaway following a pretty feed from forward Michael McLeod, pocketing the goal past Parsons.

Just 39 seconds later, the United States found the back of the net, as Bellows scored his second of the night, knocking a one-timer past Hart off a cross-ice pass from McAvoy.

The United States then tied the game at four courtesy of Colin White's seventh of the tournament, which came from getting a stick on Fox's point shot.

The game would go to a 20-minute overtime frame, with the two sides trading scoring chances in an exciting extra frame. With neither side able to capitalize, the game proceeded to the shootout, with Terry tallying for the Americans and the Canadians unable to beat Parsons on five attempts.

Parsons turned aside 46 shots in the victory, while McAvoy was named the player of the game for the Americans, finishing the night with a goal to go with his gold medal.

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